Articles By Watchman Radio Hour

Today, we
hold great commercial sports events on Sunday and think nothing about it. The
great Super Bowl has become a national event every year honored and revered by
the whole nation. Even the churches celebrate Super Bowl Sunday and encourage
their congregations to fully participate. The idea and concept of Sunday being
the Christian Sabbath has almost been completely lost from our society. More
and more stores stay open on Sunday. Even our credit card bills have due dates
on Sunday. We have become a 24/7 society. The celebration of football has taken
the place of the celebration of God on Sunday. It is true that many Americans
still go to church on Sunday but church attendance has become secondary to football
and other sports events that are attended and televised throughout the nation
every Sunday with the ultimate football game being held on Super Bowl Sunday.
It’s not that football and sports are wrong in themselves but when we put these
things in the place of God and honor them above Him, then something is wrong.
The Christian Sabbath is supposed to be a day to honor God to take time to
remember Him and celebrate Him and to do that by resting from our normal work
and pursuits. Yet, this concept has almost disappeared from the American scene.

The way we
treat Sunday is a symptom of the moral and spiritual condition of our nation.
We have reached a point where honoring God on the Christian Sabbath is really
not important anymore. Many evangelical church services have become so informal
that the people who come for worship dress down as if they were coming to honor
no one. In previous generations, coming to church was a time to dress up
because the service was special and it was a time to honor God. That concept
seems to be completely lost in many churches as even the pastor dresses
informally. We dress up for our jobs but dress down for God. This may not seem
important in today’s society but it also is a symptom of a spiritual problem in
the nation. Iain Murray in his book Rest
In God & A Calamity in Contemporary Christianity writes, ‘That contempt
for God and the ten commandments brings judgments on nations is a clear truth
in Scripture…Some believe that for Christians to bear witness to the fourth
commandment in an unsympathetic world would be to impede evangelism. The
reverse has tragically proved to be true. Bishop Ryle understood what would
happen in England if Sunday became as any other day: ‘Break down the fence
which now surrounds the Sunday, and our Sunday schools will soon come to an
end. Let in the flood of worldliness and pleasure-seeking on the Lord’s Day,
without check or hindrance, and our congregations will soon dwindle away. There
is not too much religion in the land now. Destroy the sanctity of the Sabbath,
and there will soon be far less…It would be a joy to the infidel; but it would
be an insult and offence to God.’” (P. 33-34)

Our not
observing the Christian Sabbath today is a break from the consistent history of
our nation. One of the testimonies that our nation was established as and has
been a Christian nation is that it has always up until recent times observed
the Christian Sabbath as a nation. There is no doubt about this. It is very
clear from our history that this is the case. It is true that people still go
to church on Sunday throughout the country but treating Sunday as a special day
as a nation has pretty much disappeared. We have definitely declined from the
way previous generations treated Sunday. From the time of the Pilgrims up until
the mid twentieth century, the Christian Sabbath was observed all over our
nation. It is only in more recent times that this observance has been severely
eroded.

In the 1880’s
Daniel Dorchester wrote in his book Christianity
in the United States, “…Sabbath desecration is the exception rather than
the general practice. Few, relatively, of the railroad trains run. Nearly all
of the engines lie still. Business is almost entirely hushed. But few stores,
libraries and museums are opened. With almost no attempts by legal prosecutions
to enforce the observance of the day, its very general voluntary observance
becomingly and sacredly by such large masses of people is clear evidence of a
large amount of elevated moral sentiment which dominates the land…” (P. 576)
During the same period in the nineteenth century Charles Hodge wrote in his
Systemic Theology, “Christianity forbids all unnecessary labor, or the
transaction of worldly business, on the Lord’s Day…All public offices are
closed, and all official business is suspended. From Maine to Georgia, from
ocean to ocean, one day in the week, by the law of God and by the law of the
land, the people rest.” (Rest in God
& A Calamity in Contemporary Christianity by Iain Murray, p. 33)
Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer wrote in 1905 – “Sunday. It’s separation
from the other days as a day of rest is enforced by the legislation of nearly
all if not all the states in the Union….it is a day consecrated of old, a day
separated by law and religion as well as by the custom of the church for ages,
and ought not to be turned into a day of public frivolity and gaiety….” (The United States – A Christian Nation,
p. 33)

I can
remember growing up in small town America in the late 40’s and through the 50’s
when the Christian Sabbath was still honored by the people of the nation. All
businesses were closed on Sundays except a few restaurants and a few gasoline
stations. All other stores were closed including supermarkets. The scene on
Sunday was totally different from what we see today in our 24/7 society. The
days of Super Bowl Sunday had not yet begun. Sunday was still a day of rest
throughout the nation. Though there were some local sports events. The great
commercial sports events that occur today on Sunday had not yet arrived.

Why should we
observe Sunday as a special day to rest from our normal work and pursuits and
to use that day to honor God? I would like to point out three important
reasons. First, the Sabbath was established at creation and the duty to observe
this ordinance applies to all mankind. Secondly, the observance of the Sabbath
is a part of God’s moral law – the Ten Commandments. Thirdly, the Christian
Sabbath was established by Christ and observed from the earliest days of the
Christian Church. Since we were established as a Christian nation, it has been
customary to observe Sunday as the Christian Sabbath from our earliest days.

Let’s see
first of all then that the Sabbath is a creation ordinance. Genesis 2:2-3 says,
“By the seventh day God had finished the
work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all
the work of creating that he had done.” God rested on the seventh day from
his work of creation. He blessed that day and set it apart as holy. The Geneva Bible note on verse 3 says,
“Appointed it to be kept holy, that men might therein consider the excellency
of his works and God’s goodness toward him.” Matthew Henry comments, “The
Sabbath day is a holy day, for God has sanctified it. He has separated and
distinguished it from the rest of the days of the week, and he has consecrated
it and set it apart to himself and his own service and honor.” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Genesis,
p. 13) At creation, God worked six days
and then He rested on the Seventh Day and blessed that day above all the others
and made it holy.

Because the
setting apart of this one day in seven occurred at creation, it applies to all
mankind. The Sabbath Day is a creation ordinance. It is for the whole human
race. Now, some today say it was only for Israel because it was not revealed
until Mount Sinai and only for the people of Israel. Therefore, it is not
binding for us today. However, this is not so. Not only was the Sabbath in
force from creation before Israel became a nation but even Israel was told by
God to observe the Sabbath Day before it was ever revealed to them in the Ten
Commandments at Sinai. This can be seen in how the manna was gathered. Exodus
16:21-30 says, “Each morning everyone
gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. On
the sixth day, they gathered twice as much – two omers for each person – and
the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. He said to them,
‘This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy
Sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to
boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning. So they saved it until
morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. ‘Eat it
today,’ Moses said, ‘because today is a Sabbath to the Lord. You will not find
any of it on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the
seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.’ Nevertheless, some of the
people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. Then the
Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my
instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why
on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he
is on the seventh day; no one is to go out.’ So the people rested on the
seventh day.”

The
Israelites were instructed to observe an ordinance that was already in place.
It was not something new. Iain Murray comments, “God specifically stated the
purpose of this miracle, ‘that I may test them, whether they will walk in my
law or not’ (16:4). How could this be a test unless direction regarding the
seventh day had not been already given? Nothing in Exodus 16 suggests that the
appointment of a special seventh day of rest was only now being introduced. Had
the manna miracle of Exodus 16 followed the giving of the Ten Commandments in
Exodus 20, we would have understood the fourth commandment as the foundation
for the ‘test’. But that was plainly a later event at Sinai. Further, when we
come to the wording of the fourth commandment, its language confirms that the
Sabbath was not new but already existing. The commandment does not begin, ‘Know
there is a Sabbath Day’, but ‘Remember…’; and what is to be remembered is
specifically identified with Genesis 2:3…” (Rest
in God & a Calamity in Contemporary Christianity, p.10-11)

God intended
the Sabbath Day as a special day unlike any other day of the week. On that day
we are to put aside our usual work and pleasures and remember our creator and
Lord and honor Him on that day and follow his example by observing that day as
a day of rest. John Calvin comments, “…he dedicated every seventh day to rest,
that his own example might be a perpetual rule. The design of the institution
must be always kept in memory: for God did not command men simply to keep
holiday every seventh day, as if he delighted in their indolence, but rather
that they, being released from all other business, might the more readily apply
their minds to the creator of the world. Lastly, that is a sacred rest which
withdraws men from the impediments of the world, that it may dedicate them
entirely to God….For God cannot either more gently allure, or more effectually
incite us to obedience, than by inviting and exhorting us to the imitation of
himself. Besides, we must know, that this is to be the common employment not
for one age or people only, but of the whole human race.” (Commentary on Genesis, p. 106) Martin Luther wrote, “The Sabbath
Day is undoubtedly rooted in nature; in our human nature and in the nature of
the created universe…It is Jehovah who made the Sabbath; though for man, the
Sabbath is not of man, but has come to man as a gift of God himself.” (Murray,
p. 27) To take God’s holy day and use it
for commercial enterprises such as Super Bowl Sunday or Sunday Night Football
goes contrary to the whole meaning of the Sabbath Day. We will say more on this
later. For now, we must remember that the Sabbath goes back to the creation and
has an application to all mankind.

Secondly, we
want to consider that the observance of the Sabbath is a part of the Ten
Commandments, God’s Moral Law. It wasn’t just written there to introduce the Jews
to the Sabbath Day. It was written as a reminder of the Sabbath that had
already been established at creation. The Fourth Commandment begins with the
word “Remember”. It is the longest of the commandments and reads in its
entirety, “Remember the Sabbath Day by
keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh
is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither
you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your
animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the
heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the
seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day and made it holy.”
(Exodus 20:8-11) God’s moral law has not changed. The Fourth Commandment has
not been erased from God’s moral law. It is still there. Yet, today, we live as
if the Fourth Commandment does not exist. Some say the Fourth Commandment was
only for the Jews and does not apply to us today. This cannot be so because the
commandment itself points back to the creation. In addition, as being a part of
God’s moral law, it applies to all mankind. No one is excused from an
obligation to obey God’s moral law. Romans 3:19 says, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under
the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held
accountable to God.”

Some try to
say that the Fourth Commandment was not taught in the New Testament. They say
that all the other commandments are mentioned except that commandment for it
had passed away. This cannot be. The New Testament makes it plain that Christ
honored the Sabbath Day. He called himself the Lord of the Sabbath. He taught
about the Sabbath. He worshipped regularly on the Sabbath. He did good deeds on
the Sabbath and taught others to do the same. He recognized that there were
deeds of necessity to be done on the Sabbath but in all He said He always
honored the Sabbath Day. His followers should do no less.

Thirdly, the
Christian Sabbath was established by Christ and observed from the earliest days
of the Christian Church. It is true that we no longer observe the Sabbath on
the seventh day of the week but on the first day of the week. We call this
first day of the week the Lord’s Day. This is what the early church called it.
In Revelation 1:10, the apostle John writes, “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud
voice like a trumpet…” He mentions the Lord’s Day as something that was
already being observed. Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week.
From that time forward, Christians recognize that first day of the week as the
Lord’s Day or the Christian Sabbath. It is clear from the Scriptures that the
early Christians met on the first day of the week for worship. Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week we came
together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to
leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.” I Corinthians 16:2
says, “On the first day of every week, each
of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it
up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.” These early
Christians met on Sunday to observe the Lord’s Supper, to hear the preaching of
the Word, and to bring their offerings. We know from the earliest days of
church history that Sunday was observed as the Christian Sabbath and unto this
day is universally observed among Christians. Early Christians recognized the
Lord Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath and began observing the Lord’s Day from the
earliest time. Now, did they just establish this Lord’s Day on their own
without any instructions from Christ Himself? This is highly unlikely. It is
most probable that Jesus taught His disciples to set aside the first day of the
week as the Christian Sabbath. He, of course, sanctified that day by rising
from the dead on the first day of the week.

The Christian
Sabbath is definitely a continuation of the original creation ordinance to rest
one day in seven and set aside that day as holy. Matthew Henry writes, “Though
it is commonly taken for granted that the Christian Sabbath we observe,
reckoning from the creation, is not the seventh but the first day of the week,
yet being a seventh day, and we, in it, celebrating the rest of God the Son,
and the finishing of the work of our redemption, we may and ought to act faith
upon this original institution of the Sabbath Day, and to commemorate the work
of creation, to the honor of the great creator, who is therefore worthy to receive,
on that day, blessing, and honor, and praise, from all religious assemblies.” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Genesis,
p. 13)

As we have
mentioned earlier in this article, the Christian Sabbath has been observed in
this nation from the earliest days. It is one of the greatest testimonies to
the fact that we are a Christian nation. From the earliest settlers in
Jamestown, to the Pilgrims, to our founding fathers, all the way to modern
times, the Christian Sabbath is still observed in this nation. However, as we
have seen, in more recent years, the observance of this day has been severely
eroded and almost abandoned by the nation as a whole.

Now, it is
possible to be too legalistic about the Sabbath Day. We are not to be as the
Pharisees of long ago who ignored the spirit of the law but only obeyed it
superficially in a legalistic way. We are to observe the principle of the
Sabbath Day that is to honor God on that day and to follow His example by
resting on that Day. To say that it is wrong to do away with all our
recreations or to abstain from all sports on that day is not what observing the
Sabbath is all about. There is a lot of difference between playing ball in the
backyard with our children or having a local neighborhood ball game on a Sunday
afternoon and a great commercial event such as the Super Bowl on Sunday where
millions of dollars are spent on advertisements alone and where something other
than God is honored and even idolized in that one event.

Eric Liddell
in 1924 refused to run in the Olympics on Sunday. By so doing he passed by the
opportunity for a gold medal in the 100 meters in the Paris Olympics. Yet God
rewarded his faithfulness as he ran the following Friday in the 400 meter run
setting a new world record and earning a gold medal. On the morning before the
400 meter event, Eric was given a note which he read after he got to the
dressing room. The note said, “It says in the Old Book, ‘Him that honors me, I
will honor.’ Wishing you the best of success always.” (Eric Liddell – Pure Gold by David McCasland, p. 94) God honored
Eric Liddell that Friday in 1924 and He will honor anyone who honors Him on His
Day. (Eric Liddell’s story is told in the academy award winning movie Chariots of Fire.)

Are we
honoring God when we participate in such a highly commercialized event as the
Super Bowl on the Lord’s Day? Isaiah
58:13-14 says, “’If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing
as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s
holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing
as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the
inheritance of your father Jacob.’” The mouth of the Lord has spoken.” When our
nation starts honoring the Lord’s Day again, then we can know that our country
is turning around. A nation that honors God will itself be honored. Our
forefathers knew this and they honored God and God honored them. Instead of
forgetting the Christian Sabbath, let us as a nation remember it and make it
holy once again.

Works Cited

All
Scripture quotations are from the New International Version unless
indicated otherwise

Brewer,
David J. The United States – A Christian
Nation, American Vision Press, Powder Springs, Georgia, 2010. (Originally
published 1905.)

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